Before Fifth Ward demolition, Salt Lake City was worried about property

Two weeks before a contractor began demolishing a historic building in Salt Lake City without the proper permits, inspectors told the owner to better secure the property.

A March 14 notice told the owner the former Fifth Ward meeting house “is vacant, unsecured, or improperly boarded.

“If the structure is left unsecured, it is likely to become a have for vagrants and a dangerous eyesore for the entire neighborhood.”

FOX 13 obtained the notice through a public records request. Salt Lake City also supplied a photo showing the notice served on the door of Fifth Ward as well as a U.S. Postal Service confirmation it was delivered to the owner’s address.

Property records list the site’s owner as a firm called 300 W Holdings, with real estate developer Jordan Atkin listed as the company’s manager. Atkin, however, told the news site Building Salt Lake that he is not the owner of Fifth Ward. Atkin did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Amy J. Hawkins, chair of the Ballpark Community Council, said the partially demolished building is “a real pickle” for her neighborhood and the city.

Complaints about vacant buildings are “a common thing that happens in the Ballpark and Center Ninth area of when a building needs to get redeveloped. It's often it's often the site of complaints, right, folks breaking in, folks covering it with graffiti.”

“Maybe this coming fall,” Hawkins added, “if we're not thinking about this building anymore, especially once it turns colder. That's when buildings tend to catch on fire.”

Meanwhile, fines against Atkin’s development company, Tag SLC, began accumulating Friday at a rate of $300 a day. They will cease is Atkin’s company reaches a restoration plan with Salt Lake City or the building is restored to what it was before the demolition.

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